#diversity in reading

[seowa]

✶ AFTER YOU'VE READ ANGST LIST !

or a compilation of my favourite fluff works that you can read after reading heart-wrenching angsts :›

이희승 ⋆ LHS

01 love is in the air @isoobie 02 cherry tinted @isoobie / @flwrshee 03 don't give me that look @heeliopheelia 04 keep kissing me like that and i'll marry you @heeliopheelia 05 heartbeat @strzlun 06 intimacy after dark @hysgf 07 sweet delicacy @hyhees 08 shirt @hoonvrs 09 campus' flirt @soov 10 chapstick challenge @jaeyunverse 11 always been you @jaeyunverse

박종성 ⋆ PJS

01 i hope i reached you @okwonyo 02 four times jay almost proposed + one time he actually did @jaylver 03 just hold me @heeliopheelia 04 let's take things slow from here @goldenhypen 05 meeting you here @goldenhypen 06 the line in between @yenqa 07 love letters @junityy 08 study lessons @jaeyunverse

심재윤 ⋆ SJY

01 kiss it better baby @sjyuns 02 navy blue tie @byhees 03 heavy eyes @hyhees 04 here with you @yenqa 05 your name @soobnny

박성훈 ⋆ PSH

01 secret @isoobie 02 intentions @sjyuns 03 cherry @misojunnie 04 please say it @heeliopheelia 05 the twenty-four hours dating challenge @jaeyunverse

김선우 ⋆ KSN

01 you're so easy to love @heeliopheelia 02 misfit @palajae 03 face @hoonvrs 04 game time @goldenhypen 05 opposites attract @goldenhypen

양정원 ⋆ YJW

01 i've missed you @heeliopheelia 02 anti-romantic @strzlun 03 sandy cheeks @hoonvrs 04 love grows where jungwon goes @soobnny

西村 力 ⋆ NRK

01 tutoring @strzlun 02 love me (k)not @palajae ( this has a sprinkle of angst ) 03 round and around @hoonvrs 04 twizzle into my heart @amakumos 05 hype girl @palajae ( tiniest bit of angst )

note. this will probably be updated whenever possible. also, consider checking out other works of the above writers as well because they're just as good

[dendroaspis-viridis]

I'm begging you, BioWare... Learn from the mistakes of Baldur's Gates past...

[dragonsbluee]

I have a request for batfam/Jason Todd fanfic writers:

I love the "Jason Todd is a bookworm/theatre nerd" fics as much as the next person, don't get me wrong, but can we please diversify his interests?

90% of the time when I open a fic with that tag, we see Jason reading Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice or quoting Shakespeare. And not to say that there's anything wrong with any of those being his favourite but even if he loves to read "classical" books, come on!

You're telling me Jason raised-in-crime-alley-spent-his-formative-years-between-an-eccentric-billionaire-and-an-assassin-cult Todd only reads books by dead white people?!

I refuse! Give me a man who takes to books more than ever after his return to Gotham. Jason, who reads books like I am Woman, A Really Good Brown Girl and White Tears/Brown Scars, then recommends them to the working girls as he establishes his territory. Who reads in multiple languages, and who loves Arabic poetry.

Give me a little "Robin is Magic!" Jason scouring Bruce's library and picking up a copy of The Mahabharata after he's done The Iliad, and spends weeks obsessed with Journey to the West.

Give me a Jason who's read Things Fall Apart, and One Hundred Years of Solitude! The number of quotes and references he could pull that would further support his dramatic tendencies? It would make him so happy!

[readerupdated]

Do you ever get discouraged and need to remind yourself of the good things in life? One brilliant illustration can change your mood instantly and help stay focused and motivated for a long time.

Meet Elise Gravel. She is known for her vibrant illustrations, and their positive messages about friendship, creativity, empathy, and tolerance.

(via Discover the positive side of life through illustrations by Elise Gravel)

[lanotteviene]

it's still so incredible that at a time where trans politics were nowhere to be found in mainstream & non-queer media Pratchett wrote a trans man who is morally ambiguous yet honorable, cunning and occasionally short-sighted, conservative yet protective over new generations, a military legend and a very fat, middle-aged man

[dunmeshistash]

in regards to skin tone variation in DM, i do think a lot of it is colorism/racism too. theres a few characters of color, but not many (just like how theres some fatter characters, but none of them are main characters (even senshi & other dwarves arent really depicted as fat)).

ryoko kui has surface representation for these people, but it lacks much substance, and the brown characters she does draw arent given brown facial features, and are almost always colored with very ashy skin. a lot of them just look like a recolored white person (especially cithis, kaka, & kiki). her random portraits of characters who dont actually appear in the series otherwise tend to be much better about this, but the actual characters that show up and play a part all seem to suffer from this issue.

im not saying kui is like, super-duper racist and we all need to stop reading DM etc etc, but i think its important to recognize and point out everyday/usually-overlooked colorism & racism when we see it, and i know im not the first or only person to point this out about her character designs. if she can draw fat people and actual brown people as part of the portraits, why cant she or wont she do the same for any of the featured characters in the series?

(i know the orcs are fat, but its not a good thing the only consistently fat people are the ones who are a fantasy race based off of violent racial stereotypes, who are also pig people, while none of the main cast of "real" humans are fat except *maybe* the dwarves, who still have small waists and flat stomachs, and the lord of the island, who is depicted as corrupt & decadent)

Well yeah.

I'm just a lore blog so I don't like to get too into real life issues or make assumptions about how the author feels about these subjects. What I talked about on the skin tone post was assumptions as to why she thought it would be important to show skin tone variations on certain races as a character design choice. (In the sense that her character design is very purposeful)

I realize some people over praise Kui's designs when most of it is pretty safe for what it is, but even if it's just a step closer to better representation it's something that's rare to see in anime. So I understand why some people get so excited about it.

It is important to realize this isn't the ideal either (Dark skinned characters with the same features as the others, mostly well build characters on the thinner side) but I personally don't like to criticize these type of stories on what it "could/should have been".

As someone who is fat and not white, I'm happy we get some diversity in dungeon meshi. I hope this opens up the possibility of better character design in the future even if what we got now wasn't perfect.

It shouldn't be the case that this piece of art filled me with so much joy I teared up cause I had never seen someone with a similar body to mine drawn with so much respect and objectivity. But unfortunately that's the world we live in and I don't think it's wrong to be happy for what we get for now while acknowledging it's not perfect and that it should be better.

I'm also super happy the anime chose to make the dark characters even darker.

[yvesdot]

SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT IS OUT!

“Comedic, witty and chilling by turns.” — A. R. Thompson, author of When Dealing with Wolves

The debut collection returns in a special fifth anniversary edition, repackaged with three new short stories, a new cover, and additional bonus content! A vampire is forced into a compromising situation; a father fears his child's growing plant collection; the undead go to high school; a butcher contemplates whether or not she can be loved. In a captivating debut, yves. opens the door to our world, slightly askew—where the crows work for witches and telephone booths serve as secret channels for prophecy; where a diverse cast of monsters and humans alike are forced to contend with what the world believes is right.

Thank you to everyone who made my weird uncategorizable "Lemony Snicket meets Carmen Maria Machado" speculative fiction an instant bestseller! If you’ve ever felt like a monster, this book is for you.

PRESS: KZSC interview | Santa Cruz Sentinel interview

EXCERPTED SHORT STORIES

BUY NOW!

signed paperback | paperback & ebook (amazon) | ebook (itch.io)

& at all major retailers!

Thank you so much for reading this post about my book. I hope you will share it, and this image of my beautiful black cat, Andy, widely. To queer weird fiction and indie pub! To you, Dear Reader, with love.

[mariatesstruther]

okay but sarah celebrating tommy every year for mother’s day

[apocalypsolollipop]

Support your indie and nb and trans authors! 60 flash fiction tales from writers from all over the world.

[shorlibteens]

It's Pride Month!

Check out these LGBTQ+ themed reads at your local library:

GAY & LESBIAN

Last Night at the Telegraph Club / Malinda Lo

Gwen & Art Are Not In Love / Lex Croucher

Pritty / Keith F. Miller, Jr.

The Black Flamingo / Dean Atta

We Deserve Monuments / Jas Hammonds

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School / Sonora Reyes

BI & PAN

Imogen, Obviously / Becky Albertalli

The Luis Ortega Survival Club / Sonora Reyes

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue / Mackenzi Lee

I Wish You All the Best / Mason Deaver

Ander & Santi Were Here / Jonny Garza Villa

Forever Is Now / Mariama J. Lockington

TRANS & NONBINARY

Pet / Awaeke Emezi

Man o' War / Cory McCarthy

Self-Made Boys / Anna-Marie McLemore

The Honeys / Ryan La Sala

The Sunbearer Trials / Aiden Thomas

Dreadnought / April Daniels

AROMANTIC & ASEXUAL

Wren Martin Ruins It All / Amanda Dewitt

Loveless / Alice Oseman

Planning Perfect / Haley Neil

All Out / edited by Saundra Mitchell

Being Ace / edited by Madeline Dyer

Gender Queer: A Memoir / Maia Kobabe

QUEER & INTERSEX

None of the Above / I. W. Gregorio

Hell Followed With Us / Andrew Joseph White

Just Ash / Sol Santana

Lark & Kasim Start a Revolution / Kacen Callender

Pantomime / Laura Lam

The Heart-Break Bakery / A. R. Capetta

[valtsv]

sorry if you’ve read this before and i just haven’t seen you post about it, but the book “hell followed with us” by andrew joseph white seems right up your alley

i need some kind of faq with a section where i explain that i consider andrew joseph white to be a poor writer except when it comes to describing excesses of body horror and gore because people keep suggesting hell followed with us to me and i'm sorry but his books are not good. aside from the vivid descriptions mentioned above they're incredibly devoid of compelling narratives, fleshed out characters or immersive worldbuilding. the guy can come up with some amazing concepts for a story, but his ability to execute them is consistently disappointing. i'm glad he's making money and having fun pursuing his creative passions but his stuff just does not appeal to me at all and frankly makes a hater out of me.

[andr0nap]

cowboy au worldbuilding with the thoma

as you can see im taking some creative liberties with the giant emu by making them more diverse bc canon isnt enough for me and i have the brainworms

extra notes below the cut

standard thoma:

the original thoma and most common type available

perfect for travel, can pull wagons or carry light cargo

fast with good stamina, fastest over short distances

friendly, intelligent, energetic and quick to learn

the most diverse in terms of colors, patterns and extra traits

well rounded in all departments (theyre like the AQ horses of trigun)

draft thoma:

uncommon outside of major cities (kept by specialized breeders)

used for construction work and long haul heavy cargo transport

gentle, patient and eager to work

not built for speed but can walk for days at a steady pace without rest

dense feather coat protects them from the heat and sand

expensive to maintain and keep due to their size

theyre a relatively new type that came from selective breeding

"wild" thoma:

actually feral (aka. previously domesticated), not wild

originating from lost/runaways that have not been in contact with humans for generations

rare and elusive with a small population, sometimes spotted living near shipwrecks

people will pay top $$ for their capture

begin to exhibit adaptive mutations that help them survive the wastelands

smaller and less fluffy than their standard counterparts

dont come in many colors, mostly bays, chestnuts and blacks

hardy with incredible endurance

very stubborn, temperamental and intelligent, cant be forced to do something they dont want (like donkeys)

rarely ridden, mostly kept for crossbreeding

cattle-type thoma:

related to the standard thoma but NOT the same species

common pack animal in caravans, sometimes ridden as a cheaper alternative to the standard thoma

mainly bred for meat, hide and eggs

kept in huge open range herds that travel along worm swarms for feeding

sometimes kept as a form for anti-worm pest control

keratin crests are lightweight and used for protection and display

ranchers will paint patterns on their crests as a form of identification

not the sharpest tools in the shed, tend to bite and trample people

[princessofbookaholics]

It's readathon time! This is Diversathon, where we read diverse books! We'll read as many diverse books as we can for the entire month of September (1st to 30th) and there are prompts to help you choose your reads:

prompts:

read a book by an asian author

read a book by an african author

read a book with lgbtq+ representation

read a book by a latinx author

read a book with disability representation

read a book set in a continent different than yours

read a translated book

bonus prompts:

read a book by a ukranian author

read a book by a palestinian author

You can either choose whichever prompts you want to read or try doing the bingo! Feel free to use multiple prompts with a single book, no problem!

Use the hashtag #diversathon for all posts related to the readathon. This can be your TBR, a book review, rant, reading update, absolutely anything you want.

[genderkoolaid]

Just wanted to let y kno that people are accusing you of being a zionist and all that? Idk if its true but im assuming it isnt

I support Palestinian liberation, think the government of Israel is absolutely committing a genocide (& is awful in many other ways), and that Western nations are invested in Israel to help further their own imperial goals in West Asia. However I also think this situation is not 1:1 comparable with Western colonial states like America & I'm concerned with how many people (largely white, large Western people) have taken an extremely black and white view of this issue where "says nuance is important" is synonymous with "denies Palestinian oppression." There is a real and bipartisan antisemitism issue here & a lot of people are not taking seriously enough how antisemitism & the legacy of Jewish oppression shapes this issue in ways which make it fundamentally different to talking about White Christian colonization of America.

I am an anarchist & have no attachment to any state's existence. My only hope is that the war ends & a way is found to have everyone in that region (including Palestinians who have been forced from their home and current Israeli citizens) living safe, fulfilling lives in a community which is free from the control of imperialism and other forms of injustice.

[emeryleewho]

You: Writing villains of color or queer or disabled villains is bad representation and problematic.

Me, an intellectual: Writing villains of color or queer or disabled villains is an exploration of how society as a whole inherently vilifies people on the basis of being people of color or exhibiting traits that are perceived as "queer" or in line with any disability. By allowing these villains complex morality and human experiences, we dive into the nuances of how societal framing shapes everything, from who's allowed to be "the good guy" to who is allowed redemption to who deserves a happy ending. Even marginalized villains who cause irreparable harm serve as an exploration of the ways that harms committed by marginalized people in real life are held to higher standards of punitive justice, and how marginalized people's errors are inherently seen as "irreparable" because marginalized people are inherently seen as undeserving of second chances and forgiveness. Allowing marginalized people to step into the role of a villain but still be humanized, to cause true, *devastating* harm but still be seen as a complete person is a direct challenge to systemic bigotry in a way that writing "good representation" never could be.

[desi-pluto]

BOOKS I PLAN TO READ IN 2024

Thanks for the tag @fierce-little-miana 💓

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